I’ve finally finished reading your manuscript. I love it! It’s well-written, engaging, inspiring, comprehensive, entertaining—and offers readers/students so many new ways to think about each Gospel, and the Gospels as a whole. I couldn’t be more pleased. And there’s nothing like it, that I know of.
Typically at this stage I ask authors if they’d like for me to facilitate another round of peer review. Of course I’m happy to do that. But given the fact that you’ve had lots of input from your peers, and that the manuscript hangs together, I honestly don’t think another round is necessary. But please let me know if you feel otherwise.
Sunday, October 8, 2023
Hard work
Saturday, October 7, 2023
Ask questions of why or why not
Likewise, we can reread Matthew 15:21-28 ("A Canaanite woman's encounter with Jesus") and ask many varied, intersectional questions. We can explore the Canaanite woman's situation imaginatively and critically, considering her gender, ethnicity, occupation, marital status, social standing, other families, daughter's situation involving simple illness, mental illness, or any other sickness), religion, and community.
We also need to see Jesus's and the disciples' attitude toward a gentile woman either in the historical context of Jesus or in Matthean situations. What kind of ideology do they have? Why are they mean to her? Why does Matthew portray Jesus and the disciples in this way that excludes Gentiles from salvation? Why does Jesus later allow for the healing of her daughter? Did the woman impress him with her submissive faith or challenge him to extend his narrow faith?
Questions continue: Have we asked about the possible cause and situation of the woman's daughter tormented by a demon? What kind of a demon is this? Does it have to do with mental illness? What is the possible cause of it---trauma, malnutrition, or anxiety? How did the woman know about Jesus? What is her faith like? Did she give up on her Canaanite identity by meeting Jesus? Why did she seek only her daughter's healing even though she was supposed to be in ill health or extreme poverty? Her loyalty to the daughter?
Friday, September 29, 2023
Shalom
While there are many good ideas, one thing that captures my mind most is shalom (שָׁל֑וֹם), which is not the absence of illness or disorder. It denotes the right relationship with God. John Swinton observes:
Shalomic mental health care has to do with helping people to hold on to God's presence at all times, even in the midst of symptoms and difficult experiences that may be interminable. The ultimate goal of mental health care is not simply the eradication of symptoms, but the facilitation of God's presence (p. 163).
Wednesday, September 27, 2023
The Bible and God
Monday, September 18, 2023
Currents in Theology and Mission (October issue, 2023)
I am glad to be part of the current issue of the journal Currents in Theology and Mission: Vol. 50 No. 4 (2023): "Jesus, Materialism, and the Women Who Teach and Preach Mark's Gospel"
My contribution:
Yung Suk Kim, Currents Focus: “The Gospel as the Power of God for Salvation (Rom 1:16)”
Saturday, September 16, 2023
Do the ends justify the means?
Do the ends justify the means? What do you think about Naomi's plan to seduce Boaz through Ruth? Is it her faith that God provides security and the future through Ruth and Boaz? Ruth was obedient to her mother-in-law. The other day, I read a sad, weird episode about a teenage girl in the Philippines. She lived with prostitution and supported her family. She said she was a Christian. A Western journalist interviewed her: "Why do you live with prostitution while you are a Christian?" She said that Ruth also supported her family through sex. So, I support my family just like Ruth.
Thursday, August 31, 2023
Why do I teach?
Tuesday, August 29, 2023
Time
What is time? Are there past, present, and future, each separated from the other? But strictly speaking, time is not separated. There are no three distinct realities of time. Stephen Crites writes: "Only the present exists, but it exists only in these tensed modalities." [See Stephen Crites, "The Narrative Quality of Experience," The Journal of the American Academy of Religion 39 (1971): 291-311 (301)]. He goes on to say: "They are inseparably joined in the present itself. Only from the standpoint of the present experience could one speak of the past and future. The three modalities are correlative to one another in every moment of experience." [Ibid.]
Jerome Bruner writes: "Narrative imitates life and life imitates narratives." [J. Bruner, "Life as Narrative," Social Research 54.1 (1987): 11-32]. Jocelyn Bryan similarly observes: "We are living narratives." [J. Bryan, Human Being: Insights from Psychology and the Christian Faith (London: SCM, 2016), 44; 51-74].
I agree that there is no past or future separated from the present. We only live in the moment, while reflecting on the past and the future. Namely, "our narrative of the past and our imagined future narrative impact on our every moment." [Jocelyn Bryan, "Narrative, Meaning Making, and Mental Health," in The Bible and Mental Health: Towards a Biblical Theology of Mental Health, edited by Christopher C.H. Cook and Isabelle Hamley (London, SCM: 2020), 4].
I cannot change the past. But it affects me today. I can change the future because I can reimagine myself today. We live in the present as always.Friday, August 25, 2023
Language of "world"
We often talk about the "world" in an educational setting.
Do you work for what kind of world?
Is it for today's world or tomorrow's world? For instance, when we educate people or develop leaders, are we preparing them for today's ever-changing world or for tomorrow's world?
I argue that it must be today's world because tomorrow is naught without today. While we may say we prepare next-generation leaders, it is odd to say we develop them for tomorrow's world because their workplace for transformation is in the here and now, which is none other than today's world.